FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

If you've clicked on this button you're probably somewhat interested in MX. If not, simply hit the return button and enjoy the rest of this site. With dual interest in both sports most likely we'll be visiting and riding a few MX races here and there. If we've got some decent pics from the action we'll type up a short report to avoid sending pictures to individual riders which takes up more time than for them checking out www.fatbmx.com. With no (B)MX Racing updates for a few months, it's better to have something, than nothing at all.

obert de Wilde has come up with another update straight out of the USA. Robert is Holland's only pro BMX racer ever who made it to the big time in the USA. He's living the pro life with his wife Mariella in Santa Ana, California. Here's Robert's latest update. Hello, It’s been a while. I took a little break after the Grand’s. It’s March now and the season is already on his way for 2 months. Not that many things happened in the last 3 months. But here are some things that happened recently.

When it's early March and you live in Holland, it does not make sense to organize an outdoor event. It snowed heavily the week prior to the Battle Of The Lamp (Flatground weekend) and things didn't look too bright for Saturday March 6th. The initial plan of having the contest indoors at the Beursgebouw in Eindhoven failed so it was all or nothing depending on the weather as the contest was moved outdoors to the Stadhuisplein. It rained/snowed in the morning but we had good hope it would dry up. Yes, it was cold but you can dress against that.

To get people together you need to find a good excuse. Paul and I have been into BMX for 25 years now and that was enough of an excuse to get together for the Flat Battle and a Street Ride in Eindhoven. Saturday March 6th was picked for the occasion. With a party in De Effenaar lined up at night at least something would happen (the party). We had to depend on the weather for the outdoor activities. The street ride didn't take off until 17:00hrs. Peter van de Riet from South-Africa (currently living in Eindhoven) was willing to show the Dutch street riding scene the spots that DownTown Eindhoven had to offer.

Lots and lots of flatlanders from all over the world were moving in the direction of Amsterdam on the last weekend of February to attend the Braun Flatground 2004 contest. It was advertised as the biggest flatland contest of the world and they could be right! All the ingredients were there: the perfect floor, a stunning location, numerous riders from all corners of the globe, lots of media attention, a positive vibe and big pro names to shock the spectators with their magical moves and styles. The location is a unique building which has a dome shaped ceiling and a very industrial atmosphere, check out the pictures!

The end of last year sometime Jon Greer said he had an old mill that he was putting ramps at. I asked him if the cops were chill with it? He said yeah! He said I want to have a contest! I said "Cool, do it we can call it the 1st annual Failure Bikes contest!" He said sweet! so Jon and his bud ryan and a bunch of the inland empire 909ers (which is were we get all the great Metal Mulisha fashion comes from!) started making some of the most shakey ramps ever.

When ESPN announced that the Flatland discipline got dropped from the 2004 X-Games schedule we contacted some flatland riders to check on their view on this. For a few reactions, read on:

After the Transit RIP editorial of February we received a whopping number of 1 story from Erik de Bruin (thanks Erik!). It's either that the editorial was not read by the people who experienced a ride in Markus' van or they were too drunk to remember. We'll give it one more month for you to type out a story of you in the Transit and place them all together next month as a tribute to the BMX van that survived 467.000 BMX kilometers. Show some appreciation.

- It's raining and you need something to do. You're behind the computer and don't know where to go. Here's Rob Harrison's link list for you to keep you busy for a while. http://www.20inchers.com/lifestyle/links_comp.html - The RedBull Circle Of Balance will take place on 24 April next. Top riders from all over the world will be flown in for the flatland-only invitation contest. Most riders are staying for the Braun Ninja Spin contest in Paris the week after COB. For info on both contests, check the FATBMX event schedule.

It's 25 March today. Just got back from shaping the trails. We've got a jam coming up this weekend so things need to get ready. On Saturday the "mini-FAT-JAM" will take off with a mini-ramp jam on Saturday and dirt session at the Sugar Hills on Sunday. We're functioning on automatic pilot when it comes to these jams. Putting on BMX events for almost 20 years has given us enough experience to know what needs to be done. It's actually quite easy to organize a jam but you have to make a step and go out and do it. We're not expecting anything big this weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice so that will help a lot. We'll put up the easy-up tents, place some trash bags, take care of some music and leave the riding up to the riders. It beats riding by yourself and will motivate you to go for that one trick you've been working on. Also it's possible to pick up ideas for new tricks and get tips from the riders on the deck. No pressure, no entry fees, no contest, just riding with a bunch of people. Isn't that what it's all about?